AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIFE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT:

The Minnesota and North Dakota state historical records advisory boards collaborated on a landmark project, "Agriculture and Rural Life: Documenting Change," the first joint interstate project funded by the National Historic Publication and Records Commission. Centered in the Red River Valley border region, the specific study area encompassed Traill, Steele, and Griggs counties in North Dakota, and Minnesota's Wild Rice Watershed District, which included parts of Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Mahnomen and Norman counties. Using and interdisciplinary and grassroots approach for understanding and documenting rural society, the project served as a tool to better understand current changes in agriculture and rural life. Some of the goals the project aimed to define: important components of change in rural society during the late 20th century; methods of accessibility; and development of a set of "best practices" for approaching documentation of rural life, on cooperation with state, regional and local repositories.

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This Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) Oral History Office project documents the agriculture and rural life experiences of Minnesotans through 3 oral history interviews. The duration of the project was April 12, 2001 through April 24, 2001. Narrators (interviewees) include a full-time farmer, a fifth generation farmer who also became County Commissioner in Clay County as well as Coordinator of Rural Life Outreach of Northwest Minnesota, and a newspaper editor of the Norman County Index.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Agriculture and Rural Life Oral History Project, Oral history interviews of the Agriculture and Rural Life Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2004.32

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 9989854440104294

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Biographical Information: Jon Evert (1947- ) grew up near Comstock, Minnesota on the family farmstead that was purchased in 1946. Evert was a fifth generation farmer, County Commissoner in Clay County, and Coordinator of Rural Life Outreach of Northwest Minnesota.

Location

OH 180.1

Oral history interview with Jon Evert, April 24, 2001. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (50 minutes) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (13 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include involvement in rural and agricultural life; needs and challenges facing farmers; the importance and meaning of community and rural life; public involvement and awareness in farming; changes in rural and agricultural life; role of technology in daily life; how farms want to be viewed in a state to nationwide level.

Interviewed by: Ben Leonard

Transcript - Digital version

Digital version

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Biographical Information: Tim Halle was born Oakley, Minnesota (1956-). Moved to Ada in 1984 with his wife, Jeannie. Editor for the Norman County Index. Prior he did multiple jobs. In his factory job he broke his back--enabling him to go to school for mass communications.

Location

OH 180.2

Oral history interview with Tim Halle, April 12, 2001. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (18 minutes) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (8 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include involvement in rural and agricultural life; needs and challenges facing rural areas; the importance and meaning of community and rural life; public involvement and awareness in farming; changes in rural and agricultural life; role of technology in daily life and changes within the newspaper; how his editor position impacts the community; future of Ada and his job.

Interviewed by:Ben Leonard

Transcript - Digital version

Digital version

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Biographical Information: Keven Lunde was born in Cooperstown, North Dakota (1955-). Started full-time farming in 1979. Got a degree at University of North Dakota in psychology and English. Married with three children.

Location

OH 180.3

Oral history interview with Keven Lunde, April 10, 2001. 1 master audio file: digital, WAV (31 minutes) and 1 user audio file: digital, MP3. Transcript (15 pages).

Scope and Content: Topics discussed include involvement in rural and agricultural life. Needs and challenges facing farmers. The importance and meaning of community and rural life. Public involvement and awareness in farming. Changes in rural and agricultural life. Role of technology in daily life. How farms want to be viewed in a state to nationwide level. Best and worst parts of rural and agricultural life. Role of documentation in daily life.

Interviewed by: Ben Leonard

Transcript - Digital version

Digital version

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Agriculture -- Minnesota.

Rural conditions.

Farmers -- Minnesota -- Clay County.

Newspaper editors -- Minnesota -- Norman County.

Persons:

Leonard, Benjamin, interviewer.

Evert, Jon, 1947- interviewee.

Halle, Tim, 1956- interviewee.

Lunde, Keven, 1955- interviewee.

Document Types:

Interviews.

Oral histories (document genres)

Sound recordings

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